Continuing on in Ecclesiastes, we're in chapter 9, Ecclesiastes 9, and tonight we'll just look at verses 11 and 12. Ecclesiastes 9, verses 11 and 12. Hear now God's word. I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all. For man also does not know his time, like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. So the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it suddenly falls upon them. Thus far, God's holy and infallible word. Our Father, we pray that you would open our hearts. That's the need of the hour. The need of the hour is for the Spirit, your Holy Spirit, who gave this word to take it home to our hearts. And so we wait upon you. Spirit of the Living God, in Jesus' name, Amen. Franklin, you doubtless recall, said that there are but two certainties, death and taxes. While one must pay the latter during life, The uncertainty of life that man, as verse 12a so poignantly puts it, does not know his time means that death is the only certainty, really, for all of us. We saw last time, this in a measure in verses 1 to 10 of Ecclesiastes 9, that Kohelet, observing the certainty of death, urged joyful living here, presupposing ultimate hope offering, or rather affirming, that God accepts our works. We saw that Christ, in His person and work alone, makes all of this possible. Giving us the hope that we lack under the sun, but must have to live any life worth living here. Today, and this evening, I'd like us to see reiterated somewhat in verses 11 and 12, just this, that death comes to all. Death comes to all and seeing firstly that it's sure, and secondly that it's swift. That's really what these verses say. Death comes to everyone. That's certain, it's sure, and it's swift. This text that refocuses us on the uncertainty of life would then prompt the question, are you ready to die? And I would urge upon all of you such self-examination. and such spiritual readiness. Since man knows not his time, since death comes to all surely and swiftly, you must be prepared at all times to face death, confident of the salvation that we enjoy in Christ alone. And so we see in the sobering text in our first point in verse 11, that death comes to all, that death is sure and certain. In poetic form here, we're told the race is not to the swift, the battle to the strong, bread to the wise, riches to men of understanding, favor to men of skill. And of course, this confirms what we know. We know, all of us know, that no one escapes death no matter how gifted, physically, intellectually, or in the skills of the artist or craftsman. We all know that nothing exempts us from death, and yet in our daily lives, we proceed along as if we're going to live forever in this world below the sun, don't we? Don't we often live this way physically? Is this not so? We see this first of all in verse 11. It's true physically. The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. We see the swift winning the race and the strong winning the battle. And we assume or act as if this is inevitable. And it will always be so. The young particularly feel invincible. They enjoy a sense of optimism. When you're young you have this sense, particularly physically, of nothing will stop me now. These old people may be creeping around, but I can run and I can jump and look, I'm strong. Yet time and chance happen to them all, meaning that one grows older in this life and one dies. Not only does swiftness and strongness subside during life. How old is that pitcher now, we may say, as we look at the bullpen of our favorite team? How old is that guy? They should get rid of him. I wish he would have gone away during the offseason. Not only does swiftness and strongness subside, but it's not always the fastest and strongest who win. In fact, we as Americans particularly like this. We see in the Bible that the It's not by might, it's not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. And thus David defeats Goliath. Gideon with a small band wins. I understand there's a current film, I don't know anything about it, but about the famous victory at Thermopylae. Of the 300, there were actually a bit more than that, but under Leonidas there were 300, the king of Sparta. And he held them off, they got around and passed, but he held them off long enough so that they could win that great victory over the Persians, the Greeks could, the combined city-states, at Salamis, the great naval battle. We love those stories of the underdog. I mean, in 1688, the great Spanish Armada was defeated. And even historians have said, when asked the question, how did the Spanish Armada get defeated? There are secular historians who have said, we don't have any answer but God. Because there's no, the British didn't do this. And the British, played the world turned upside down as General Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington at Yorktown. Because it sure seemed like that. This ragtag band of colonists had defeated the army of the greatest empire in the world. So history itself testifies again and again that it's not always the swift that win the race and the strong that win the battle. No. It's not just a matter of the gifted, but of the giver who rules over all. Yet we still assume, don't we? We still assume that it will ultimately. And over time, the swift are going to win the race. The strong are going to win the battle. Food or bread is going to go to the wise. Riches will come to men of understanding. And to be sure, We see those gifted intellectually, as we go on to that next set. Bread to the wise, riches to men of understanding. We see those gifted intellectually in business or enterprise, as opposed to wasteful lazy fools, prospering and enjoying the fruit of their hands. And yet how in a moment they can lose it. Think of how the business cycle can drain fortunes. Or one kind of business replaces another. I traveled just in a part of the country where I used to live, out in New Jersey, and I was out there for beginning around 1988. So it's been almost 20 years. And there are some businesses that were starting that seemed thriving. You'd think, wow, this thing's going to go great. They're out of business. And we say, well, that's right, service and technology has replaced manufacturing. But even think of the dot-com bust. A lot of things that were sure bets on Wall Street, on the market, buy this stock, you can't lose. How many people have lost fortunes on stocks they couldn't lose on? Markets are volatile. Fortunes one day, bankruptcy the next. And that's the truth. Perhaps the rapid acquisition and loss of wealth has never been more acute than now. Things move so quickly. You can trade like that. Think about it. You know, yes, yes. Food does come to the wise, richest of men of understanding. In terms of skill. Look at that. Favor to men of skill? There are lots of men of skill. Think of all the kinds of men of skill. We could look at a gifted man. I mean, some of you appreciate it. I've given the baseball metaphor. Now, here's a musical one. We can look at a man like Lang Lang, a great pianist, and fail to realize or think about how easily he could become a Leon Fleischer, who was a great pianist, who just lost the use of his right hand. One of the greatest. You can't play with your right hand. It limits you a lot when you play piano. You can play by ear, but that hurts. In the pursuit of all these things, in the exercise of gifts, the gifted one can feel as if he will live and do forever. There's a sense when you're in the exercise of a gift, when you're in the zone, Whether you're in athletics or something intellectual or something, some kind of a gift, you feel immortal. And that's a window into something. It's a window into the truth that we're meant to live forever in the exercise of gifts, but not below. That's right. That's right. You see, we're going to live forever, but not here below. And so these glimpses of you feel Invincible. Even the strongest, the smartest, the most talented don't always win. And at some point, even if they have a lot, they'll cease to. Woods is on the top of his game, but he won't continue there forever. Some golfer is, you know, it'll be news. I'm not ever going to beat Tiger Woods, and you're not either. But somebody will. This is because this 11th C says, time and chance. Remember the last part of that verse 11. Time and chance happen to them all. All creatures are subject to time. The passage of which positively, if life is lived for Christ, can bring satisfaction, joy, wisdom, but also decay and certainly diminution in gifts, physical, intellectual, artistic, mechanical. My mother was very skilled in a number of things, certainly in just around, not only in her profession, but around the house and in preparing a meal and serving it. She could serve up quite a meal, but we saw where she couldn't even really cook anymore and couldn't even set the table. All are creatures subject to time. We must not look to or trust the gift, but only the giver. We need always to remember our utter dependence on Him, lest we think ourselves at any point other than weak. We're weak. We need that cathedral for us. Oh, I know we feel strong, and relatively we might be. But we need, as the Roman general, triumphant in his march on the Appian Way into Rome, having all these accolades, would hear by a slave that he paid money to, to whisper occasionally in his ear, as he went along in his triumphant chariot, remember you are but a man. Remember you are but a man. At various points, as your name is being lauded to the skies, he was told by someone that he paid to, remember you are but a man. Because you could feel like a god. They're saying... What name is that they're saying? What do these banners say? It doesn't take us much. It doesn't take much to get us going. It really doesn't. You think, well, wouldn't you like that in the flesh? Nah. Is that my wife I hear laughing? You better know it, baby. I sure would. You're but a man. You're but a man. And all your honors on the athletic field, in the classroom, in the office, in the debate hall, remember to give God glory and take your place as a man. Well, To say that not only that time happens to all, but chance may be a little confusing to you. It's not here to affirm randomness and to deny a sovereign God. That's not what this means. Rather, it's speaking from an under-the-sun perspective to acknowledge that what happens, and what happens to us, to our gifts, to their flourishing or failing, is not in our control. Again, this is one of these verses that, you know, people sort of flip out on. The Bible says chance. Breathe deeply. No, the Bible is not affirming. I mean, you know, R.C. Sproul's book, Not a Chance, is correct. But it's just, it's speaking in a common way. You know, you learn how to do this. I've even learned, for example. I'm Reformed. It takes us a long time to learn these things. That, you know, when somebody says good luck, you know, yeah, okay. Yeah, I mean, there's a place for saying that and making sure that people understand that. But there's also just a common usage of that, that we don't have to fly into reformed rages over. And so here you see just a common usage, you know, it says time and chance happen to them all. It means it isn't in our control. We're not controlling it. To say time and chance happens is to say, wake up! You who feel so in control with all your swiftness, smartness, giftedness, you're not in charge of your destiny. Young people. So many meetings where you would be inspired. You would be told you're in charge of your destiny. And that is one of the most wicked and pernicious and lies out of hell that you could ever be told. You're in charge of your destiny. No, you're not. in charge of your destiny. God is. Look to Him. Trust Him. Flee to Him. Walk with Him. As verse 12a says, you're not in charge of your destiny. You don't know your time. That's what 12a says. Man does not know his time. Which is to say, death comes to all. Even the most gifted. Surely and certainly, we've seen. But also, secondly, swiftly. Which is to say, not at a time you choose. And of course, that makes a lot of people very mad. I've read and heard people say, I want to choose the hour of my death if I have choice. Well, you don't. Yes, you can kill yourself, but that's not so much choosing the hour of your death, that's killing yourself. And that's a terrible sin. That's not an option open to us. I'm not saying people don't do it, but Now, you say, well, we know that. Oh, we're not very far from being a society that would say suicide is a right. Are we, doctor? I mean, Europe is there. That's where we're heading with our absolute worship of freedom in the abstract. Kill infants in the womb. I don't know what about their freedom, but that, I guess, doesn't matter. Kill them in the womb. Kill the old. Kill everybody. Kill yourself. Please. I don't want to have to deal with you. I don't want to have to take care of you. In a society where there is that, well, let's put them to death when they get a bit old, people will be pressured to die. Why don't you die? Hey, Grandpa, what's that out the window, you know? Seriously, I mean, this is bad. This is bad. No. We don't choose that. No. It's not at the time of your choosing, but whenever he who controls time and chance chooses. No one knows when he is going to die. That's what this is saying. This is very simple. Nothing ensures our continued life or inures us from death. Not that man isn't trying. He's fighting, fighting, fighting death. So much of what we read about in terms of health and fitness is this. Now, that's certainly not wrong, but trying to live forever without God is wrong. Stem cell, cloning, so much of that has to do with wanting to live forever. Whether it's people on an island who can produce the parts and you take them and you live. I mean, this is where the medical technology is taking us. It's just a manifestation of our desire to cheat death, as people put it. But you can't. Any more than can the fish swimming blithely along, or the bird hopping blissfully along. That's what it says here. Verse 12. Man doesn't know his time. Like fish, take it in the cruel net! Birds, caught in the snare! They didn't fly away saying, hey, let's go get in the snare. Let's go get in the net. No. They're just swimming along. They're just flying along. Hopping along. This is the picture we have. Unaware. And in a moment, netted or snared. Notice it's a cruel net. It's described as a cruel net. And men are snared in an evil time. Why this description? Why that way? An evil net. A cruel net. An evil time. Because it suddenly falls upon them. Sin has brought death and as to its swiftness, it's cruel. It's evil. It's a harsh, inescapable master. But you say, may not a person, and don't many people in fact, approach it slowly and linger in old age? Yes, but still even then when it comes, it comes swiftly and life is gone. Somebody's alive and then they're dead. I don't care how bad a shape they're in. But man knows not his time. Children, young people, that means don't count on living to old age. God grant that you might all do so. But I must say this, and I wept much yesterday in the contemplation of this. I think there's even a bit of superstition on my part. You don't want to say this because something bad will happen. I have to preach the word. The Bible says man knows not his time. And that means none of you here have a right to take anything for granted in that respect. We must say amen and we must live in a way that accords with this. Don't live as if you're going to live forever on this earth because you don't know what might happen. You might leave here and get hit by a car. And you say, oh, that's what preachers say. But it's true. It's true. God forbid. But it could be tonight, it could be tomorrow, it could be next week, next year. I hope it's many years hence. But we have to take this seriously from God's Word, beloved of the Lord. To those in the full blaze, particularly of swift, gifted, young life, death comes cruelly and evilly. Some of you had a friend, Logan, I believe it was, or you knew, who just died. And yes, he had warning, but still he was young. Still he was young and people seemed to be getting younger. And you know, you read the obituary. I mean, you know, I'll tell you, I'm reading the obituary and I'm hoping to see pretty old ages up there, you know. 95, OK, well, that's not bad, you know. 45, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I hope that's a misprint. You don't like to see that. No. How should you then live? Well, Jonathan Edwards had a whole set of resolutions when he was a young man in his late teens. And number six was resolved to live with all my might while I do live. And that comes from just earlier here. Number seven was resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. That's a way to live. Number nine, resolved to think much on all occasions of my own dying and of the common circumstances which attend death. Number 19, resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if I expected it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trump. Hebrews 9.27 that the pastor read earlier tells us. that it is appointed for man to die once, but after this the judgment. This text tells us that man knows not his time. He doesn't know when that will happen. And it compares it to the fish swimming along, minding his own business and caught. To the bird flying along or hopping along, caught. Everybody here, we think death is, it's out there somewhere. We don't know where it is. It could be right next door. We must confront this. Are you prepared to die? Are you ready to face God's judgment? If you were to die tonight and stand before God's throne, and this talks about in Hebrews 9.27, the judgment. And you were to be asked, why should you be admitted to heaven? What would you say in this judgment? What would you say to such a question? Well, I wasn't so bad. I won a few. I lost a few. I'm basically a good person. I did lots of good things. Or maybe you think this is a much better answer. I'm in the OTC. I'm baptized. I go to church. There's but one answer. Beloved of the Lord, there's but one Answer. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. He kept the law perfectly for me. He paid for my lawlessness. Jesus took all the wrath and judgment of God due me, and my hope is in him and in him alone. It's like J. Gresham Machen when he lay dying and telegraphed to John Murray. I say this occasionally, but it's worth repeating many times over as he lay dying. And all that he had done for Christ, all the service he had rendered to the church, much, much, much through many years, he could but think of what Christ had done for him in keeping the law. He didn't think, well, I'm so happy that I've been a faithful, godly person. He telegraphed, John Murray, so thankful for the act of obedience of Christ. No hope without it. Meaning it's about Him. He's not lying there dying, taking great comfort in His Christian service. He's taking comfort in His Savior. That's my hope. And there's no hope without it. It was the last words recorded by Dr. Machen. So I would ask each of you, everyone here, all of you who can understand me, whether eight or eighty, are you prepared to die? Hell awaits those whose trust is not in Christ. and whose life of sin shows, whatever they profess, that they don't trust Christ. If your trust is in Christ, you don't live a life of sin. You sin, but you repent, you come to the Lord. Your life is characterized by godliness in following Christ. Our text is clear. Death is sure and swift. You will die and you don't know when that may be. Tonight, tomorrow, next week, hopefully a very long time. But I would ask each of you, are you ready to stand before God in death? Now, I know we as OPCers don't say this a lot. But when the Bible text says it, we better say it. And the Bible text says it, man knows not his time. If this is a warning, I don't know what is. To the question, are you ready to stand before God and death? There's but one right response. Trust Christ and live out that faith. Let nothing keep you from confronting the reality of this text. This sermon doesn't do it. I don't have the power to do it. But I want each of you to confront this text. You need to confront this text. That time and chance happen to them all. The greatest ultimately are brought down and brought to death. Man doesn't know his time any more than the fish or the birds. Even the fastest, the smartest, the most skilled die. And no one here knows when that may be for them. Come to Christ. And you can rest easy in him now and forevermore. Amen. Our Father in heaven. We lack all skill. To treat this word as it ought to be. As it ought to be treated and handled. May your spirit mercifully make up for our horrible lack, and take this home to our hearts as only He can, so that we will not rest until we know that our rest is in Christ, until we rest in Him, so that we would be prepared whenever that time comes to meet You. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.